August 3, 1988

              August 3, 1988
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE
H6263
(Mr. SHTJMWAY. asked and was
given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. SHTJMWAY.. Mr. Speaker, I
thank the gentleman for yielding me
this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to
the conference report, and in doing so
I realize that my postion here tonight
is going to be a minority view. The bill
will pass when the vote is taken to--
morrow. It will be signed by the President. This measure will become the
law.
But nevertheless, I feel that I must
speak out and at least express the reasons that I have used to come to the
particular conclusion that I have come
to. It seems- to me that to support this
bill, in good faith, one must find a
cause and effect relationship, and I
simply cannot find it. I have searched
desperately.. I cannot recall another
bill that we have considered in recent
years that I have given as much.study
to as I have this bill. I have done that
because I have among my constituents .
in California many people who are vitally affected by this bill, very interested in it. I have done it because I
have colleagues here, notably my good
friend, the gentleman from California,
Mrc_BjJB_MATSpT, who have urged me
to~cohsider~ my'position and who have
given me some very thought-provoking
reasons to do so.
I have studied it because I have read
books that have been supplied to me,
one of them bv John Tateishi called
"And Justice for All!' containing some
very touching stories about those who
were kept in these camps.
I really do not have any quarrel with
the facts. There was a serious wrong
done to many good American citizens,
and there are some resulting emotional scars. I can feel the hurt many of
the Japanese-Americans feel today
and will describe during this debate.
But I_ do nqtsee_jjle__jemedyj_fjag
payment of $20,000, as the right.
an"Swer_rtQ3he_. equation. Search my
conscience and the facts as I might, I
simply do not find the justification for
that.
This payment will go to some who
suffered great harm and, therefore,
the payment of $20,000 would be but a
token payment to them. It will, go to
some who suffered very little harm,
and to those for whom maybe it will
be nothing more than a windfalL It
will go to some who made claims under
claims statutes in prior years and received payment from the U.S.. Government in return for which they signed
full releases of any further liability. It
will go to some who perhaps had
greater allegiance to Japan during
those difficult war years.
In spite of these differences in
status, the proponents say that we
must pay a lump sum to all to address
the wrong, that this is the only fair,
the only just way to proceed,, and they
say that this bill, by doing so, reflects
our sensitivity to that wrong.
Mr. Speaker, it is at this point that I
think the cause and effect relationship
really breaks down. tj>imply__cannot.
match that prQclaimerisensitiv4ty~with-
-frie very arhitrarv-^nlri. mefhanistic
formula contained in r.hfe hiTC Those
two tnihgs just do not jibe and equate,
and they do not properly recognize the
nature of the wrong.
In my view there are other, more ap_-
propriate ways to redress the wrong,
done to loyalAmerican citizens, and I
offered some alternatives during the
debate, including the granting of
scholarships, perhaps a lasting memorial, and of more interest, a formula
that was individualized based upon age
and length of detention that would
take into account different factors
that applied to those who were detained. All of those alternatives were
resisted and indeed rejected by the
proponents of this legislation, and
therefore, we find ourselves tonight
facing, an arbitrary formula, one which
to me does not really address the differences in the level of need and
wrong done to different people.   -
It is ironic to me that many of my
friends have said the money does not
matter, but at this point, Mr. Speaker,
I think the money does matter. I think
that we should not pass this legislation on waves of emotionalism, but on
sound reason, and for that reason- I
intend to vote "no" and I would urge
my colleagues to do so as well.
Mr: FRANK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3
minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii
[Mr. Akaka] and I do so for sound reasons on behalf of this sound and reasonable bill.
.. Mr^AKAJgA. Mr. Speaker, I thank
the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the House and Senate conferees
for their diligence and determination
to complete the conference report on
HR. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of
1987. As you know, on September 17,
1987, the House of Representatives
voted in support of this legislation.
The Senate followed with passage of
S. 1009, a companion bill, on April 20,
1988.
The conference report before us
today is a compromise which will
begin to address the grave injustice
committed against those Japanese
Americans who were interned and the
Aleuts who were relocated from the
Aleutian and Pribilof Islands during
World War IL
The conference report extends a
formal apology to the more than
120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, including at least 1,000 Japanese
Americans from Hawaii, who were interned and deprived of their civil liberties. It also authorizes $1.25 billion in
reparations to the Japanese Americans
living on the date of enactment.
On December 1982, the Commission
on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians issued their report,
"Personal Justice Denied." The Commission found that the evacuation and-
relocation of Japanese Americans was
a "grave injustice" caused by "race
prejudice, war hysteria and a failure
of political leadership." Since that
time Congress has deliberated long
and hard on this issue. The time has
come for Government to recognize its
mistake and provide those interned
with just compensation. I know my
colleagues will support this bill.
The laws of this country are based
on a simple premise, "innocent until
proven guilty" However, this basic law
was violated when Japanese Americans were relocated and interned.
These Americans of Japanese ancestry
were "guilty until proven innocent."
They were denied their liberty and
property without due process of law, a
violation of their constitutional right.
We'cannot ignore this travesty of justice.
I strongly support passage of the.
conference report; it is a compromise
which deserves the fun support of the
House of Representatives. Passage of
this legislation will provide a long
overdue apology and a token restitution; it demands our support.
_Mr. SWTNDALL. Mr. Speaker, I
yield myself sucflftime as I may consume.
First of all, Mr. Speaker, let me say
that L differ, with, some of my colleagues with respect to what this bill
is all about. This bill is not about Japanese-Americans. This bill is about the
Constitution of the United States of
America. This bill is about what each
and every one of us does as our first
official act when we walk into this
Chamber. We raise our right hand and
we take an oath of office that says
that we will uphold and defend the
Constitution.
The Constitution was not enacted in
this country until such time as we ratified 10 very fundamental articles. The
fifth amendment to the Constitution
is what specifically this bill is all
about. The fifth amendment says no
person can be deprived of life, liberty,
or property without due process of
law. We are a nation not of men but of
laws.
What does that mean? What it
means, in simple terms, is what thousands of young children see every day
when they walk across the street and
look up at the facade of the Supreme
Court and see the words- inscribed,
"Equal Justice Under tnfr Law." It is
what young children see when they
see the statute that has come to symbolize our system of justice-where
Lady Justice is blind, colorblind;-blind
in terms of country of natural origin.
What really perturbs me as 1 look at
this bill is many people are making the
same mistake that I made when I first
heard this bill argued. We are-making
the mistake of looking at it and saying
this is the ethnocentric bill, this is a
bill about how macho we are, this is a
bill about how American we are. It
had nothing to do with that, and I do
not think I really understood that and